Madhav National Park

Madhav National Park is situated in Shivpuri District of Gwalior division in northwest Madhya Pradesh, India. Two national highways pass through the park, the Agra to Bombay former National Highway 3 and the Jhansi to Shivpuri National Highway 27 (formerly N.H.25).[1]

Madhav National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
LocationMadhya Pradesh, India
Nearest cityShivpuri around 9km away
Coordinates25°28′N 77°45′E
Area354 km2 (137 sq mi)
Established1958
Visitorsaround 500 people (in every year)

The park was first noticed in 1956, at 167 km2, as Shivpuri National Park. In 1958, it was renamed Madhav National Park after Madho Rao Scindia, the Maharaja of Gwalior belonging to the Scindia dynasty of the Marathas, and was finalized the following year.[1]

The park has many leopards, and since October 2007, one male and one female tiger have made Madhav their home.

Geography

There are several small ponds in this national park, but the largest body of water is Sankhya Sagar, a reservoir,[2] constructed for Madho Rao Scindia when it was still his hunting grounds.[1] He also had constructed a second smaller reservoir, Madhav Sagar, known as Madhav Lake.[1] A third reservoir was not included in the park.[1]

Located in the ecoregion of Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests,[3] this national park has a varied terrain of forested hills and flat grasslands around the reservoir and is thus rich in biodiversity. The average rainfall is 816 mm.[4]

History

Shivpuri town is the ancestral home of the line of ęAli Khan, a region based in Punjab, and most famous for the laws of commonly credited with defining modern day jurisprudence.

The dense forests around Shivpuri were the hunting grounds of the Mughal emperors and later the Maratha royals. Emperor Akbar captured herds of elephants for his stables while returning from Mandu in year 1564. Since the area was a royal shooting reserve, it was well protected, and abounded with wild life and was famous for its tigers. Bengal tigers and other animals were known to wander in great numbers in the area.

Shivpuri town in the state of Madhya Pradesh was formerly the summer capital and a much larger park was the former hunting preserve of the Scindia maharajas of Ujjain and Gwalior. It is reported that in 1916, Lord Hardinge shot eight tigers in one day at Shivpuri. Lord Minto supposed to have shot 19 tigers during his trip to Gwalior State.

After the independence of India, the area suffered degradation.[1] Agriculture and mining encroached on the former hunting grounds. Although the park was noticed in 1956, at 167 km2, as Shivpuri National Park and became thye renamed Madhav National Park in 1959, degradation continued.[1][4] The last of the resident wild tigers were seen in Madhav National Park around late 1970. In 1982 a plan to add a new part of the park along the Sindh River was proposed. This expansion area included a corridor joining it to the original 167 km2,[1] which when completed would bring the park to 354 km2. (See map below in external links.)

As late as the 1990s there was little effort to improve the conditions in the park. Illegal mining and questionable mining permits led to significant degradation in the park, so that in the 1990s conservationists took the matter the Supreme Court of India and by 1998 received an injunction terminating mining in the area.[5]

Owing to dedicated efforts the habitat has again become secure and improved encouraging transient tigers to be tempted to become resident.

Sights and facilities

On the shores of Sakhya Sagar lake which edges the forests, is a boat club, from where the park visitors can see a number of migratory birds especially in winter, when many migratory waterfowls visit the area. A viewing lodge constructed by the Maharaja called the Shooting Box, is situated above the Sakhya Sagar lake. In the older days one could shoot wildlife, both with a gun and camera from here. Visitors could sit under cover and watch a tiger at a kill. All around the lake (at suitable points), the Maharaja constructed boat landing areas, picnic shelters, watch towers, hides, etc. and a network of well laid out metalled roads.

George Castle

At the highest elevation in Madhav National Park, 484.0 m (1,587.9 ft), is the George Castle (Bankhade Kothi). In 1911, the local Scindia ruler Madho Rao Scindia built the castle in his hunting park for an overnight stay by King George V of the United Kingdom. George V had intended to go tiger shooting there during his visit to India. However, the king shot a tiger before getting there, and did not stop at George Castle afterall.[6][7] Although in some disrepair, it is a "turreted English-style castle, with Belgian glass windows and Italian tile flooring."[8]

Biodiversity

Madhav National Park has an area of 354 km2. It was set up in 1958. The national park is open year-round. With a varied terrain of wooded hills – the forest being dry, mixed and deciduous- and flat grasslands around the lake, it offers abundant opportunities of sighting a variety of wildlife. The principal tree species found in the park are khair (Acacia catechu), salai (Boswellia serrata), kerdhai("Anogeissus pendula"), dhawda("Anogeissus latifolia"), tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon) and palash (Butea monosperma).

Mammals
A rare scene of a chital followed by a hunter dog in the lake, the race gets intercepted by a mugger crocodile, and the chital is saved.

The predominant animal species that inhabits the park is the deer, of which the most easily sighted are the graceful little chinkara or Indian gazelle, and the chital. Other species that have their habitat in the park are nilgai, sambar, chausingha or four-horned antelope, blackbuck, sloth bear, Indian leopard and the common langur.

Birds

Madhav National Park is equally rich in avifauna. The artificial lake, Chandpatha, is the winter home of migratory geese, pochard, pintail, teal, mallard and gadwall. A good site for bird watching is where the forest track crosses the rocky stream that flows from the waste weir. Species that frequent this spot are red-wattled lapwing, large pied wagtail, Indian pond heron and white-breasted kingfisher. The park's birds also include the cormorant, painted stork, white ibis, laggar falcon, purple sunbird, Indian paradise flycatcher and golden oriole.

Sakhya Sagar Lake

Sakhya Sagar and Madhav Sagar lakes, created on Manier River in 1819, are two important biodiversity support systems in the park besides several perennial and seasonal streams and nullahs. Sakhya Sagar Lake is situated on the edge of forests of Madhav National Park. On the shores of the lake is a boat club also known as a sailing club. The Sakhya Sagar Lake is the habitat of variety of reptiles. Species that can be seen here are marsh or mugger crocodile, Indian python and the monitor lizard.

See also

Notes and references
  1. Tiwari, Shiv Kumar (1998). "Madhav National Park". National Parks of Madhya Pradesh: State of Bio Diversity and Human Infringement. New Delhi: APH Publishing. pp. 148–166. ISBN 978-81-7024-950-4.
  2. Google maps
  3. "Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  4. Roy, P. S.; Ravan, Shirish A. (1996). "Biomass estimation using satellite remote sensing data—An investigation on possible approaches for natural forest". Journal of Biosciences. 21 (4): 535–561. doi:10.1007/BF02703218.
  5. Shrivastava, Priyanka Pawar; et al. (July 2017). "District Tourism Master Plan for Shivpuri Draft Report". Bhopal: Design and Planning Consultants (DPC). p. 43. Archived from the original on 27 May 2020.
  6. "George Castle". Shivpuri District of Madhya Pradesh. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020.
  7. Sengar, Resham (28 August 2018). "The charms of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018.
  8. "The Cycle of Life". The Times of India. 16 February 2003. Archived from the original on 21 March 2003.
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